Letters
by katiepaige
Summary: Kataang and Sukka one shot. Completely depressed when Aang leaves on his 'Avatar duties', Katara begins to mope. Until the letters start arriving, that is.


**_Hi! Me again. This next story is in Sokka's perspective, something I hadn't originally planned on. At first, I wanted to do it in third person, but I felt like I couldn't capture the emotions right. Then I started writing it in various character's POVs, only to realize that the only person who really worked with the story was Sokka. I think I captured Sokka pretty well, but let me know how you think. Maybe I went a bit over top on the valley girl thing, but let's face it, that's sorta how he talks :)_**

**__****This is set after the war, when they're hanging out in Ba Sing Se. Katara is about 15 or 16, Sokka and Suki are both 16 or 17, and Aang and Toph are both 13 or 14. Probably coulda figured that out on your own, but now you don't have to think. Hehehe :)**

**_Once again, enjoy the story and lemme know what you think by leaving reviews! Thanks a ton!_**

**_Love, K.P. (not kitchen patrol)_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Avatar. I own Momo, but that's it. Just kidding, I really don't own any flying lemurs. Not yet, anyway._**

**_Edit: So, I recently learned that Ba Sing Se didn't have an 'a' after the 's' in Se. I'm currently in the process of fixing this in all my stories, but if you do find a Sae, just assume I missed it. My fault. Scuse my failure. Have a nice day. I'm gonna go eat some yogurt now. Goodbye._**

**Letters**

Katara was always different when Aang wasn't there. It was like she was empty, lost, without him there. It was painful to watch her go through this withdrawal whenever he wasn't around her. Like she was losing a part of her whenever he left. She was losing her heart.

The guy leaves, like, once a month on 'Avatar duties.' Well, that's just settling disputes, helping people out with spirit world problems, and talking to everyone about the war and the Fire Nation. Little things that he always has to leave home for days to do. By home, I mean our little house in Ba Sing Se. Since the White Lotus took the city back from the Fire Nation, it's been a peaceful, completely un-brainwashed city. And an extremely unexciting place to stay.

I'm not entirely sure if I prefer traveling or the homey comforts of Ba Sing Se. It's nice to have fresh food and people who'll give you pretty much anything you could ever want, but there's never that feeling of accomplishment when you sit around and do nothing all day. It's pretty boring, actually. Just saying.

Anyway, back to my sister. I'm not gonna say that I know what happens in that girl's head. I've never fully understood her, even though I've known her all my life. She may be my sister, but she's still a girl, right? One thing I do understand is how completely she needs Aang by her side, and that's what makes it so hard for them to be separated when he leaves.

I wonder if he realizes how empty she is without him. It's like we're all here on Earth, but Katara is somewhere up on Mars, waiting for the little tattooed kid to come back and bring her down. She checks out as soon as he exits the door. Like he casts some spell of complete misery on her, or something. BOOM! He's gone, and she is, too, but in a completely different sense.

I've tried to bring her out of her little world, but nothing seems to work. She just busies herself with washing clothes or cleaning dishes or cooking, and when there's absolutely nothing left, she just sits around, like she's waiting to hear that someone's died.

That's another thing. She has this mind set that Aang's gonna kick the bucket any second. Like a little farmer in the middle of the Earth Kingdom is gonna attack him and kill him right there. She's so afraid that something's going to happen, she can't sleep. I hear her crying sometimes when I'm lying in bed. Her room is right next to mine, and the walls aren't all that thick, so I can hear her sobbing. I always want to go do something, comfort her or something, but I know she'd just be embarrassed I'd heard her.

And then the letters started showing up, and it was like the Universe had finally clued Aang in on my sister's complete and total dejection and he was gonna try to fix it.

The first letter showed up about a year after Aang had started leaving on his little Avatar missions. It was about 5 o'candle, and Katara was starting to make dinner. I was talking to Suki at the kitchen table, and suddenly there's this knock on the door. Toph's in the backyard, bending, so we couldn't ask her who it was. Well, we could've, but it probably would have resulted in a rock in the face. And rock doesn't exactly complete my looks. Completely absorbed in my conversation, I asked Katara if she could get it.

She just went to the door. Didn't even bother to comment on how lazy I was. Nothing. Not a single sarcastic remark or anything. She just goes to the door and opens it, like I hadn't said anything. This girl was seriously not herself.

So she opens the door, and there's this man with a big thing of flowers. We're talking REALLY big. Like 200 flowers, all jammed into a vase. They were pretty, white and red ones I couldn't even begin to name. I'm a guy, okay? I don't know about flowers, and I really don't care. Sorry if that disappoints you.

Anyway, the guy in the door hands her the flowers and says, "To Lady Katara, from the Great Avatar Aang." She just stands in the doorway, holding the flowers, looking at them like she couldn't believe her eyes. Then she starts crying.

Crying! She just starts crying right there! Not sobbing or anything, just like tears were falling down her cheeks. I was completely shocked, but Suki jumps up and goes to her and puts an arm around her. She thanks the delivery guy and closes the door in his face, helping Katara to the couch cause I'm pretty sure she couldn't see anything through the buckets of water pouring from her eyes. Buckets. Literally.

They get to the couch and Katara puts the flowers on the coffee table. I'm just standing there like an idiot, no clue what to do, while Suki's busy comforting her.

"Katara?" Suki says to her, really softly, like she's speaking to someone on their deathbed. "Katara, are you okay?" My sister nods and wipes her eyes, still looking at the flowers. "Sokka!" Suki yells to me, losing all the softness and deathbedishness. "Handkerchief!"

So I grab a towel and hand it to Suki. She looks at the towel, then just gives me this look like 'You are so hopeless' and shakes her head. I shrug apologetically and she hands it to Katara. I'm a guy! I don't know what a handkerchief is! Who cares?

Well, obviously not Katara. "Thanks, Sokka," she says to me, still looking at the flowers. She wipes her face on the thing, then just holds onto it like it's some kind of relic or something. She just clutches it in her hand by her heart, as if somehow it'll fill the hole the airbender left when he took off.

And then I notice this little piece of paper tucked in the vase. I go to grab it and Suki gives me this look like I was insane. "What?" she mouths at me, her hand rubbing Katara's arm absentmindedly.

I point at the note and Suki's eyes follow my finger. She sees the note and picks it up, handing it to Katara and saying, "Katara, hon, there's a note."

I rolled my eyes to myself. Did I totally not just try to do that? Girls.

So Katara looks at the note like she's never seen paper before. Like it was something completely new and amazing. She takes it in her hands like she's checking to see if it's real, or some cheap knock off. Deciding it's the real deal, she slips it open while her hands are shaking wildly.

She turns the envelope upside down and a letter falls out. She unfolds it slowly and starts reading it. I moved behind the couch so I could read it. Sure it was sorta insensitive and none of my business, but Suki was looking at it too, so I figured it was okay.

_Dear Katara,_ the characters said. I read on.

_Everyday I'm away from you, I feel like I lose a little more of myself. I miss you so much, it hurts. I think about you all the time. I hope you think about me, too._

Complete sap fest, I know, but Katara has a fresh bucket of tears in her eyes and is smiling, so I suck it up and continue reading.

_Usually, I try to not think about you during the day. It distracts me too much. I start thinking about your soft hair and your beautiful face, and suddenly I can't stop. And I'm thinking of all the times we've ever been together. Remember the time we went cart surfing in Omashu? And the Cave of the Two Lovers and the singing nomads? And that crazy guy that always yelled at us about cabbage? It all just floods back and hurts too badly._

_It was way harder than usual today, though, cause the clearing we camped out in was so calm and quiet, I couldn't help thinking of all the nights like it on our trip. Lying beneath the stars, feeling the light breeze, forgetting all about anything we had to worry about. I miss that. I miss you. A lot._

_And then I start thinking about how much I love you, and how much I miss you and Sokka and Toph and Suki. I can't wait to get home, to see you all again. I just had to write to you, to let you know that I'm thinking about you. I saw a man traveling around with a cart of flowers, saying he'd deliver anywhere in the Earth Kingdom. I told him I wanted to send the biggest bouquet of flowers he had to Ba Sing Se. He wasn't very happy about that. I guess he figured no one would want him to deliver to someone on the other side of the Earth Kingdom. Well, he thought wrong._

_Right now, I'm a few miles South of Omashu, in a little village called Toluki. They're known for their cow pig jerky. Tell Sokka I'll bring some back for him._

Aha! The kid remembered me! I smiled and looked back at the letter.

_Toluki is a nice village. I know you would have liked it. The people here are really nice, and they actually remind me a lot of your tribe. I keep expecting to see Gran Gran walking around._

_They had a little trouble with a spirit, much like that one town, what was it called? Senlin, I think. Well, anyway, they have a similar problem, but this time the spirit keeps stealing their koala sheep. Quite a problem, I guess. I had a word with the spirit today, and he seemed to think they were wild. Once I set him straight, all the people thanked me. They threw me a big party. Nothing like the Earth King's parties, but I still had fun. Plus, I learned some new dance moves! I'll show them to you when I get back. It shouldn't be too long. If we fly all day tomorrow and the following day, we should be back in no time._

_I can't wait to see you again. I miss you more than you could ever imagine. I hope you like the flowers. I picked out the ones I thought were the prettiest because they reminded me of you._

_Tell everyone I say hello and give them my love._

_Love,_

_Your favorite airhead, Aang_

After I had finished, I looked at Suki, who was looking at Katara, who was holding the letter and staring at it. Unsure of what to do, I put my hand on her shoulder and said gently, "He's thinking of you, too, Katara."

She just nodded, then she hugged the letter to her as fresh tears trickled down her face. I knew they were tears of joy, but I still wondered how any one person could possibly have that much water in them.

After that, she went into her room and laid on her bed for the rest of the day, rereading the note until I was sure she could recite backwards. I sat down next to Suki on the couch, wrapping my arm around her. She had tears in her eyes. I wiped them away with my thumb and asked her what was wrong. "It's just so cute! Why don't you ever do something cute like that for me?" she muttered, punching me in the arm lightly to show she was kidding. I rolled my eyes.

Things got much better from there on out. When Aang came back, he brought back jerky (YAY!) and Katara could hardly contain herself. I thought she might explode from excitement when Toph announced he'd landed. I was expecting confetti to shoot out of her ears when she finally saw his face. She ran at him and practically smothered the kid in hugs and kisses. I turned away. Still not a big fan of seeing my sister kiss people, no matter how old she is.

Katara was ecstatic that Aang was back. She wouldn't let go of him for the rest of the day. Even through supper they held hands. Katara cooked up a big vegetarian feast in Aang's honor, leaving me to decide on which vegetables I hated the least. I chose rice.

So it continued. The letters, I mean. Aang would leave, and Katara would kiss him goodbye and be all depressed for a day or two. Then she'd get a letter and instantly be happy again. And when I say depression, it wasn't like before. She just got sort of fidgety and anxious waiting for the next letter. She just couldn't wait.

The letters always arrived in some new way. They'd be attached to exotic birds, or new gifts, or jars of jam or something. Always different, always exciting. This lasted for another 6 months, then I finally proposed to Suki (who couldn't be happier to accept, although annoyed at me for waiting this long), and Aang came back home for the wedding. Katara had had enough of Ba Sing Se, and refused to let Aang leave again without her. And so they left, leaving Suki, Toph, and me in Ba Sing Sae. But that won't last long. Suki and I are thinking of moving back to Kyoshi so Suki can be reunited with the other Kyoshi Warriors, and Toph was thinking about moving in with her parents for a while.

Where are Katara and Aang now? I couldn't tell you. They move around a lot, helping people recover from the tolls of the war. Sometimes they stop by for a visit, staying for a day or two before leaving again. They seem to be completely content with their lives as of now, and I can only hope it continues. It's nice to see my sister so happy.

Katara was different when Aang was there. She was joyful and young, enthusiastic and fun. She spent every waking moment with the kid, reluctant to let him slip away again. I'd never seen someone so full of life, so utterly content. My sister had found her heart after losing it for so long. She was whole.


End file.
